Palestinian girls, women endure horrific human rights violations: UN report

UN experts have raised alarm over "credible allegations of egregious human rights violations" committed by Israeli forces, including multiple forms of sexual assault and rape, against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“Palestinian women and girls in detention have been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers," the experts said in a statement on Monday.

"At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence,” the experts added.

Hundreds of Palestinian women and girls across Gaza and the occupied West Bank have been arbitrarily detained by the Israeli army since October 7, the seven UN experts said in their report.

Those detained include human rights activists, reporters and humanitarian workers, who report being subjected to "inhuman and degrading treatment."

The detainees list multiple forms of abuse such as being severely beaten, denied food, medicine and menstruation pads, and having photos taken of them in "degrading circumstances" and spread online by the Israeli army.

One shocking report even cited a Palestinian woman detained in Gaza being left without food in a cage outside in the rain and cold temperatures.

In response, the seven UN experts called for an independent and effective probe into the reports, cautioning Tel Aviv to cooperate with the investigations.

'Deliberate targeting'

The experts, including UN special rapporteurs Reem Alsalem and Francesca Albanese, are part of the largest body of independent experts in the United Nations human rights system.

According to information they received, Palestinian women and girls have also been deliberately targeted and executed in Gaza, often alongside family members and their children "in places where they sought refuge or while fleeing"

"Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces."

In addition, they said the whereabouts of a number of Palestinian women and children in Gaza following contact with the Israeli army are unknown.

"There are disturbing reports of at least one female infant forcibly transferred by the Israeli army into Israel, and of children being separated from their parents, whose whereabouts remain unknown," they said.